The future of physical therapy education?

Currently the doctor of physical therapy degree consists of 3 years of education with both clinical and didactic components interspersed within these 3 years. Many students are paying thousands of dollars to be enrolled in an institution even when they are absent from their school almost 1/3 of this time. Yes, the school is working to place students in clinical affiliations and someone is "grading" your performance out in the clinic, but for many students the costs do not seem to add up. To add insult injury, with lower reimbursement rates and the tightening of federal regulations, physical therapists are not being compensated adequately once they enter the professional world. In this post, John Childs discusses where he believes the future of physical therapy education needs to head. Several schools are already doing longer clinical affiliations where students are receiving scholarships or payment for their services. Mr. Childs also poses the idea of these longer clinical rotations transforming into a post professional residency model. In this model, students would sit for the NPTE after 2 years of schooling and complete a 1 year residency program, similar to medical school. Heathcare policies and models are rapidly changing, will physical therapy education be on target for this change as well?  What are your thoughts?

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